fruitfarming

The tropical banana-growing regions of northern Queensland, mainly around Tully and Innisfail, produce more than 90% of Australia’s bananas Banana plants first arrived in Australia in the 1800s. The original bananas from south-east Asia were small, about as long as an adult’s finger. This led to Arabian traders giving them their name, based on the Arabic word for finger, “banan”. True story! We have the Chinese migrant communities to thank for introducing bananas to Australia way back in the mid 1800s. The lucky citizens of Carnarvon in Western Australia were first to taste bananas before the good folk of north Queensland were fortunate enough to experience its delights. It wasn’t until the 1880s, however, that Chinese workers from the goldfields established banana plantations in the Queensland tropics around Cooktown, Port Douglas, Cairns, Innisfail and Tully. In the 1890s, plantations were started in the Coffs Harbour area of New South Wales and around Mullumbimby. Next time you grab a banana, consider the fact you’re about to devour the world’s very first fruit. Originally from the region that includes the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea, traders took bananas with them as they travelled to India, Africa and Polynesia. These bananas, however, barely resembled the fruit we know today. They contained many large, hard seeds and minimal pulp and were considered to be a strange and exotic alien fruit. Cross-breeding of two varieties of wild bananas, the Musa Acuminata and the Musa Baalbisiana, in Africa in about 650 AD, resulted in bananas becoming seedless and more like the delicious fruit we enjoy today. Source: australianbananas.com.au/Pages/all-about-bananas/the-bana...

In north Queensland, the Cassowary Coast region, including Tully and Innisfail is the major banana-growing region – not only for north Queensland but for all Australia. Other major growing areas are the Atherton Tablelands and Lakeland. The first banana plantations were started by the Chinese migrants working on the goldfields. In the Tully area, bananas were shipped to market via the Tully River and, in Innisfail, on the South Johnstone River. The trade in north Queensland bananas stopped during World War I when there were restrictions on local shipping and outbreaks of plant disease. The banana industry re-established in the area at the end of World War II in 1945. Stan MacKay and a number of other growers began farming in the Mission Beach area near Tully. Bananas were packed in 40kg wooden boxes and transported to market by rail up until the 1960s when road transport was introduced. Today bananas are packed in cardboard cartons and transported by both road and rail in refrigerated containers. The industry has grown substantially and the total farm area producing bananas in north Queensland in 2016 was 11,800 hectares. Source: abgc.org.au/our-industry/tropical-bananas/

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